Militiamen sneak past border into East Timor

Published: Thursday, October 14, 1999

LIQUICA, Indonesia {AP} Dozens of anti-independence militiamen who fled East Timor are secretly returning with plans to launch a guerrilla campaign against the international peacekeepers charged with keeping them out.

The Associated Press accompanied a militia leader and his armed followers through the mountainous interior of the half-island territory this week. The Australian-led multinational force has clashed with, and killed, several militiamen in the past week.

The peacekeepers were deployed on Sept. 20 after the Indonesian army and its militia allies unleashed a wave of killings following an overwhelming vote for independence by East Timor's 850,000 people in a U.N.-sponsored referendum.

The United Nations has urged the militias to disarm and to help rebuild an independent East Timor. However, guerrilla leaders have ignored the appeal.